Plagg was in the middle of his second mid-afternoon nap when he smelled something heavenly.

It was faint, muffled by the fabric of Adrien's bag and at least two other layers, if Plagg's nose was serving him correctly. The source of the smell was relatively close (definitely in the same room, of that he was positive), but further away than the confines of Adrien's bag. It was heavenly, delightful-

-and Plagg had to have it.

Very, very cautiously (Adrien would take away his Camembert if he got seen), Plagg suck his head out of Adrien's bag just far enough to peek out. He sniffed, trying to find the source of the amazing smell.

Not to the front... not to the whiny girl's side...not to baseball-cap boy's side...aha!

The smell of heaven on earth was coming from the bag right behind Adrien's. The owner of the bag was familiar- one of Adrien's friends, Plagg knew that- but there was something else about her, something Plagg felt that he probably should remember...

Eh. It probably wasn't that important and as far as Plagg was concerned, he was put on Earth for two reasons: to turn Chosens into Chat Noir and to eat good cheeses. That was it.

As soon as the class was suitably distracted, Plagg phased through the bag and made a beeline for Pigtailed Girl's backpack. He phased through that, paused for a millisecond, then continued forward into the insulated bag that was taking up a large chunk of the backpack.

And inside the lunchbag was his prize.

It was glorious. It was a masterpiece. It deserved to be framed and hung in the place of honor in a museum.

It was a variety pack of soft cheeses.

Plagg let out a sigh of contentment, plenty happy just to pull the top of the container off and stare. Removing the lid released a whole new wave of heavenly scents, and soon Plagg was rolling around on top of the cheeses, basking in the smell and the knowledge that all that cheese was right there. The insulated bag was a little on the chilly side, probably because of the ice packs that sat below the cheese container, but it was hardly enough to bother Plagg.

Better to be chilly and in cheese-bliss than warm and with no cheese-bliss, he always said.

Wrapped up in a cheese coma, he didn't notice when class ended.

Marinette hurried home after school, hoping to get the pack of cheese that she had bought as a joke for Chat Noir in the fridge as soon as possible. Even though it was being kept cool by an insulated bag and a couple of ice packs, she didn't want it to spoil or stink up her backpack.

She dashed through the bakery, waving to her father and the customers browsing the leftover loaves of bread as she passed. She hurried up the stairs and had just reached out for the door handle when the noise of what sounded like squabbling suddenly floated up from her backpack. Startled, she gave the backpack a healthy whack and the noise fell silent. She waited for a few more seconds, just in case the noise started up again right away.

It didn't.

Marinette sent one more worried look over her shoulder before yanking the door in front of her open and bolting through the living room and up her stairs as unsuspiciously as possible, throwing an excuse about needing to do her homework at her mother before her trapdoor slammed closed.

For a few seconds Marinette stood alone in her room, breathing a bit heavily both from her run up the stairs and the scare that whatever was in her backpack had given her. Then she gave herself a shake, pulled the backpack off, and tossed it in her chair before edging a little closer.

Whatever it was couldn't possibly be good.

Before Marinette could open her backpack, Tikki phased right through, a scowl on her tiny face. She was dragging something along behind her, but whatever it was was refusing to come out through the fabric.

"Oh come on, you little thief!" Tikki exclaimed, voice shrill and far more annoyed than Marinette had ever heard before as she yanked on the whatever-it-was, planting her tiny feet on the fabric and pulling. "Get out here right this instant!"

"No!" the backpack said. Marinette yelped and jumped nearly half a meter into the air. Tikki ignored her, tugging on whatever it was in the backpack.

"You will come out on your own or I will pull you right through the fabric! Don't think that I can't!"

The backpack snorted. "No you can't. I don't have to phase through things that I don't want to."

This was beyond weird.

Tikki's tugging increased. All it accomplished was making a blobby shape push up against the fabric.

"Tikki, what's in there?" Marinette finally managed to ask, loosening her grip on the book she hadn't even realized she'd snatched up.

"Plagg is in there and he's refusing to come out!"

"Is he dangerous?"

Tikki made a shrill sound of irritation as she yanked again. "No, but he's annoying!"

Marinette cautiously approached her backpack, reaching around Tikki to undo the zipper. Her kwami made a triumphant noise as she gave up on trying to pull Plagg through the fabric and instead yanked him out through the opening Marinette had provided. Within a second, a second shape had joined Tikki in midair. It-he-was clearly a kwami like Tikki but was black instead of red and looked more like a cat.

Marinette's brain came to a screeching halt. She could only stare for a long few seconds as Tikki and Plagg argued midair because what was Chat Noir's kwami doing in her backpack.

When had she actually been close enough to Chat Noir for his kwami to get into her backpack without anyone noticing? Did he know who she was?

This was Very Bad.

"I just wanted the cheese!" Plagg suddenly wailed as Tikki continued to berate him in kwami language. "I was hungry and I could smell the cheese so I went to see where it was!"

"You can't just break into someone's bag because they have cheese, Plagg!" Tikki yelled. Marinette shushed her, sending a worried glance at her trapdoor. Her mom might have headed back down to the bakery by now, but she didn't want to depend on that. Tikki's volume lowered only slightly. "Does your Chat Noir know where you are? He doesn't, does he?"

"I didn't mean to get separated from him! I just got distracted by the cheese!"

Suddenly everything clicked. Marinette should have guessed that cheese was what Chat Noir's kwami needed to recharge and that it wasn't for Chat himself. He must have forgotten to pack cheese for Plagg to snack on and so when she came close enough for him to smell the cheese in her bag, Plagg hadn't hesitated.

Clearly he didn't have half as much restraint as Tikki did. Marinette suspected that even if she forgot to pack cookies during the day Tikki wouldn't steal from other people's bags. Tikki would probably just remind her to pick up a few more cookies during the lunch break, and that would be it. She would only ever snitch from other people if it was an emergency and they needed to transform right away.

Tikki looked like she was about to explode, so Marinette stepped in. "Should we go back to the school so you can find Chat Noir? Would he still be there?"

"Nah, he'd be gone by now. Besides, I haven't actually eaten the cheese yet." Plagg swiveled around lazily midair, eying Marinette. He perked up. "Oh, you're Ladybug. That's why you seemed familiar. I wondered about that."

Tikki steamed even more, if that was even possible. "How didn't you know that? I could sense you on your Chat Noir from a block away!"

Plagg shrugged and twirled lazily in midair. "Too much work."

Tikki swiped at his ears. "It's called paying attention to your surroundings, Plagg! It comes in handy sometimes!"

Before Plagg could respond, Marinette stepped in. "Okay, you two. Plagg, you can eat some of the cheese. I'll give the rest to Chat Noir when I see him next, but you have to promise to go back to him when you can." How they were going to that, she didn't know. Clearly Chat Noir went to her school and was maybe even in one of her classes, but which one it was was a mystery and with school over for the day, she was hardly likely to just run into him on the street by accident. She would ask Plagg where she could drop him off so that Chat Noir could find him, but somehow Marinette suspected that Plagg might not be a wealth of information.

"Marinette!" Tikki complained, clearly unhappy with Marinette letting Plagg have any of the cheese (the little cheer Plagg had given before diving straight back into Marinette's backpack probably wasn't helping any). "We need to get him back to Chat Noir-"

"Marinette! I have snacks ready!" Marinette's mom called up. "Come on down!"

"It'll be fine," Marinette said, snagging Tikki and tucking her back inside of her jacket. She sent a concerned look at her backpack- she didn't like leaving an unfamiliar kwami alone in her room, especially when said kwami was as mischievous as Plagg seemed to be, but his attention seemed to be fully focused on the pack of cheeses. She would just have to hope that an akuma wouldn't attack between now and whenever Chat Noir and his kwami got reunited.

It would be fine.

When Plagg didn't appear at Adrien's shoulder demanding the cheese from the top of his low-fat, all-organic personal after-school-snack pizza, Adrien wasn't particularly worried. Plagg was probably in the middle of a nap, or maybe he was occupied with the cheese Adrien had just shoved into the bag, or maybe he was busy running Adrien's phone battery down with yet another game of Flappy Birds, or maybe he was hiding from Adrien again, just to mess with him.

Adrien suspected the last option was probably correct. His kwami seemed to enjoy watching him freak out whenever he went missing.

It wasn't as though finding Plagg- or, rather, luring Plagg out of hiding- was ever that difficult. All Adrien had to do was wave a bit of cheese around and if he was in the same room, Plagg would come shooting out to snag his prize.

Besides, if Plagg was going to play his little games, Adrien was going to take full advantage of it. Plagg loved to make fun of Adrien for poking through the Ladyblog, sometimes for hours on end, but he couldn't do that without blowing his cover now. Adrien finished his snack quickly and headed back to his room, doing a little fist pump when Plagg was nowhere in sight. Adrien made a beeline to his computer and pulled up the Ladyblog in a flash, sighing in delight as his Lady's face filled the screen.

Yeah, he definitely liked being able to act like a lovesick fool in the privacy of his own room without getting teased mercilessly for it.

His break between the end of school and his fencing practice ended too soon, and Adrien sighed as he packed his bag back up to head back to the school. He had thoroughly wasted his free hour with the Ladyblog, but he had managed to watch some footage that he hadn't seen before (well, except when he had been living it, but minor details) and he hadn't been able to watch thanks to Plagg's constant whining for cheese. There were still a few more things he wanted to explore on Alya's blog, but he really couldn't afford to miss any more fencing lessons than he already had.

"Plagg, time to go back to my bag if you aren't already there," Adrien announced to the room at large as he turned back to his desk to grab his phone and water bottle. There was no response from the kwami, and Adrien shrugged. Plagg would show up eventually.

Except then he didn't.

"Plagg? Plagg, there's an akuma attack!" Adrien hissed as he crouched in the bushes next to the school entrance after fencing ended, digging through his bag. His kwami didn't appear. "Darn it, Plagg, this is not the time for your nonsense!"

Adrien's annoyance gave way to worry a moment later as he pulled out the stash of cheese he had just refilled and found it completely untouched. Normally a quarter of it would already be gone- it was a common point of contention between Adrien and Plagg- and Plagg absolutely refused to back off on his gluttony. If the cheese was completely untouched, it meant that Plagg hadn't been anywhere near his bag.

So where was he, then?

The akuma roared again, shaking the ground even though he was several blocks over. Adrien winced, peering out through the bushes. His driver was idling at the curb, alternating worried looks between the front of the school and the direction the roars were coming from. It would be impossible for Adrien to sneak back into the school to look for Plagg without the Gorilla noticing, unless he sent the man off...

He had to have left his kwami at home, right? Plagg had probably found some old cheese and curled up with it in the bottom of a trash can for a nap. The smell from the rotting cheese would cover the smell of the fresh Camembert, and if Plagg was in a deep enough sleep he wouldn't have woken when Adrien left. The likelihood that he had somehow left Plagg at school and the kwami hadn't managed to find his way back to Adrien during fencing was minimal.

Plagg had to be still in the Agreste mansion, Adrien decided as he strode out to the car, trying his best to look like he hadn't just been hiding from his bodyguard in the bushes. There was no other explanation.

Right?

Marinette winced as she watched the akuma storming its way across the park from her bedroom window. The elephant-themed supervillain was a large akuma, similar to Stoneheart and the Horrificator, and fighting him by herself would be hard. She frequently relied on Chat Noir to act as a distraction, and with his kwami currently napping in a pile of her yarn...

Well, it was clear that Chat Noir wasn't going to be turning up anytime soon.

"I should have done more to get Plagg back to Chat before the akuma showed up," Marinette groaned to Tikki, who was hovering at the window with her. She had questioned the stubborn little kwami, of course (she definitely didn't envy Chat Noir for having to deal with the little monster on a regular basis; Tikki was much nicer), but she hadn't gotten any good information. Chat Noir was blond, the kwami had sing-songed tauntingly, and he had hair, and eyes, and two arms and two legs-

Marinette hadn't even known that it was possible to get so frustrated. She had threatened to withhold his cheese rights, but Plagg had countered with a threat to cause havoc in the bakery. Tikki had made a long, shrill sound at the other kwami at that- her equivalent of a wordless scream, Marinette assumed with some amusement- at which point Plagg finally dug himself into Marinette's knitting basket and refused to come out.

"It's possible that Chat Noir will come near the akuma even without his kwami," Tikki said, finally landing on Marinette's shoulder and nuzzling up to her. "As long as Plagg comes along, then I'm sure he'll join you soon enough."

Before Marinette could respond, Plagg appeared from the depths of the knitting basket, yawning widely. "What's making all of the noise?" His eyes widened as he joined them at the window and for the first time, Marinette got a glimpse of a kwami that wasn't all snark and frustrating evasiveness. Plagg looked legitimately concerned and even a little guilty as he watched the akuma raging across the grass. "Oh."

"Yes, oh," Tikki practically growled, making as though to fly at Plagg. Marinette caught the little god, holding her back as she tried to get at Plagg. "And now my Chosen has to go fight him on her own, since you decided to ditch your Chosen for a little cheese and then refused to give her any help to get you back to where you're supposed to be! Let me go, Marinette, and I'll bite him-!"

"You aren't biting anyone, Tikki, that's not going to help anyone right now," Marinette sighed, pulling her kwami back. She transformed before her kwami could argue any more, and then she reached for Plagg. "Grab a chunk of cheese for the road and then follow me, okay? Tikki thinks that Chat Noir will probably try to get close to the fight even though he's not transformed, and if he does, then you can join him."

Plagg flew up to her, green eyes suddenly focused and free of the malice he had been projecting earlier. "I can help, Ladybug! I can bite the akuma and keep him distracted until Ad- er, my Chosen shows up!"

Ladybug had to smother her smile at the kwami's sudden reversal of his attitude. If she was reading him correctly, the kwami was troublesome and stubborn when it didn't particularly matter, but he was fully capable of being helpful and kind when the situation demanded it. The cheese and saving him from Tikki's wrath probably didn't hurt at all either.

"Okay, but only if you're sure you won't get hurt," she said, biting her lip in amusement as Plagg nodded and zipped off to the cheese box. He returned with a slice of Brie and immediately latched onto one of her pigtails. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

Plagg wasn't anywhere in Adrien's bedroom, or in the dining room, or in the kitchen. Adrien spun around in circles in the middle of his room, clutching at his hair. He must have been wrong- Plagg must still be at school somewhere, and now he had to somehow sneak out and get past the akuma attack, all without getting detected.

Fantastic.

"Stupid kwami," Adrien muttered as he pulled out the rope he had always used to sneak out of the house before he got Plagg. He climbed down quickly before chucking the rope back in through the window. With any luck, he would be able to get back in as Chat Noir, and then the rope could go back into its hiding place before Nathalie found it and had it destroyed yet again. "What in the world was he thinking?"

Because that was the thing- Plagg could be obstinate and stubborn at times, but he wouldn't ever willingly put Adrien in danger by just running off and hiding. He knew Adrien was already busy and that akuma fights were already putting a strain on his packed schedule. Plagg knew that Adrien didn't have the time to try to hunt him down, especially if Plagg wasn't in the mansion. Adrien just didn't have the freedom to run back and forth to the school at will.

...of course, not having the freedom wasn't necessarily going to stop Adrien, but it was still an utter hassle to sneak out without Plagg's help.

The ground shook as Adrien circled around the long way to school. He froze, then started to creep towards the source of the sound. He wasn't planning on getting seen or getting involved in the fight, but he wanted to know how Ladybug was faring without him. This akuma sounded like it would be difficult, and if she had been fighting on her own for long...

Mind made up, Adrien dashed down the streets towards the fight, dodging citizens running in the opposite direction. His bag whacked his side with every step as he ran- he'd probably have a bruise there by tomorrow, but it hardly mattered. He could deal with it later.

Adrien rounded one more corner, and then the Elephant came into view. He charged at Ladybug, nearly hitting her before suddenly letting out a roar of pain. His enormous hands (which looked incredibly out of place on what was essentially an oversized elephant) clapped onto his leg, and a moment later Adrien spotted a small black blur streaking away from the akuma. He squinted, confused.

He was just seeing things. Maybe the akuma victim had muscle spasms or something in real life that carried over to his supervillain persona.

Ladybug dove in again, clearly aiming for the gold necklace around the akuma victim's neck. The akuma swiped at her again, this time with his trunk, and almost got in a hit. Adrien winced as he watched. Ladybug was really flirting with danger, considering that he wasn't out there to serve as a distraction if something went wrong. She was fighting by herself, and while Adrien knew full well that she could, he also knew that Ladybug absolutely hated it.

(He had preened for a full half-hour the first time she had admitted that she didn't like fighting akumas without him by her side. Ladybug had grumbled and grouched about his reaction, but he didn't care. She had admitted that she liked fighting alongside him.)

It was doubly important that he find Plagg quickly now, Adrien decided as he dodged his way forward, hiding behind the bushes along the sidewalk as he did. He couldn't disappoint his Lady by not showing up without any explanation, especially with an akuma as obnoxious as this one was. It was a miracle that she hadn't already gotten hurt.

As Adrien watched, the akuma let out another roar of pain, this time clapping a hand to his opposite arm for a moment before grabbing at what looked like thin air. He stumbled forward, eyes locked on something, and the fight drew closer to Adrien's hiding place. He stumbled backwards until he was pressed against the building, still hidden by the shrubbery. Hopefully the fight would head in the opposite direction, because right now there wasn't any escape.

"Give up, Elephant!" Ladybug taunted as she jumped from one rooftop to another, flying in the air above the supervillain. "You aren't going to win, and I'm not going to let you trample civilians just because they didn't want to face the elephant in the room either. Haven't you looked at the track records for akuma? Not very encouraging!"

"Ah, but you don't have Chat Noir with you this time," the Elephant taunted right back. "So my chances of getting your Miraculous have much improved! And then, when Chat Noir finally shows his face, I'll only have to fight him one-on-one as well!" And then, quite suddenly, the akuma roared again. "Quit biting me, you little pest! I'll catch you and squish you like the bug you are!"

Adrien's brow had only just furrowed in confusion when an incredibly familiar taunting laugh floated through the air. Adrien glanced upwards just in time to see a black blur- Plagg?- zip upwards and join Ladybug in the air.

When had Plagg found Ladybug?

Despite his disbelief taking up most of his cognitive function, part of Adrien's mind managed to focus long enough to realize that with Plagg right there, one of his problems was solved. He wouldn't have to get all the way over to the school and search the entire building for his rogue kwami after all; however, the question of how he was going to get his kwami's attention without catching Ladybug's or the akuma's attention as well was still an issue. Plagg seemed almost uncharacteristically focused and serious as he dove in an delivered bite after bite to the akuma, seemingly piercing its wrinkly grey suit without any problem. He wasn't doing any damage, really, but he was distracting the akuma enough that it couldn't catch Ladybug as she made grabs for its necklace. Chat Noir could provide a better distraction, provided that he could actually transform and get out there. But if he couldn't call for Plagg or get his attention by waving, then how else was he supposed to get Plagg from up by Ladybug to down by his side? Adrien sincerely doubted that he could suck Plagg into his ring from all the way down here, and there was no possible way he could safely get up to the rooftops, especially if he wanted to avoid being seen...

Ugh. Plagg better have a good excuse for going missing, because being able to transform to fight an akuma was not supposed to be this difficult.

Adrien fidgeted, wanting to pace but unable since the fight had drawn so close and he didn't want to garner any unwanted attention. Ladybug's toes skimmed the bush he was behind as she swooped from one building to the next and Adrien flinched back, grateful that he was wearing shades of grey and green today. He blended into the bushes well enough, though his bright blond hair wasn't doing him any favors.

Think, Adrien, think, he scolded himself as the fight started to move to his left. He hunkered down more securely behind the bush. How can you catch Plagg's attention? What would Plagg pay attention to-

Cheese. Duh. It was so obvious Adrien could have smacked his head. It was possible that Plagg wouldn't smell the cheese in the heat of battle- he did seem awfully focused on the akuma, after all- but it was the best Adrien had. He dug in his bag, feeling for the baggie of cheese he had packed only a few hours earlier, pulling it out and opening it as quietly as he could- not that it mattered, really, since the akuma and Ladybug were making enough noise to cover up pretty much anything.

Well, okay, maybe not anything- Adrien wasn't going to try to, say, sing or anything to test that theory- but it was enough noise to cover up the rustling from a plastic bag.

Wrinkling his nose at the smell, Adrien lifted up the small baggie and waved it around a little, hoping that enough of the smell would float upwards for Plagg to take notice and investigate. His kwami did often brag about his fantastic nose, after all, and his ability to sniff out Camembert anywhere, anytime, even in his sleep. For a few long minutes Adrien worried that it wouldn't work- Plagg was continuing to fight, and the scuffle was starting to move further and further from Adrien's hiding spot. Then Plagg swerved wide to avoid a blow and happened to fly right over Adrien. He froze in midair, nose twitching- and then dove straight for the bag of cheese, aim completely unerring.

"I thought so," Adrien said smugly as he caught Plagg just as he was about to stuff a chunk of Camembert in his mouth. The kwami froze and had the decency to look abashed. "Eat up quick, and then I need to transform. You can explain where you went later."

"I didn't mean to get lost," Plagg started with a whine, but Adrien silenced him by shoving the cheese into his mouth. They couldn't waste any time on explanations now, not when Ladybug was dealing with the akuma all on her own. She had clearly noticed Plagg's disappearance, since she had pulled her own attacks back to a safer distance. Still, she was much too close for Adrien's liking, especially since he didn't know if Plagg was ready to transform in a moment if she needed help. Plagg swallowed the cheese in one gulp and opened his mouth, no doubt to try to explain himself again, but Adrien could wait to hear it.

"Plagg, transform me!"

Seconds later, Chat Noir charged into the fight with a yell and a painful-sounding thwack to the akuma's side with his baton. He bounded upwards to join Ladybug and landed at her side with a vault and easy backwards somersault.

"Oh, look what the cat dragged in," Ladybug teased as they ran along the rooftops after the akuma, who had apparently decided that he no longer liked the odds of winning and had made a run for it. "Were you missing something, kitten?"

"Plagg ran off," Chat Noir claimed immediately, not even hesitating before throwing his kwami (figuratively) under the bus. He ran a little slower so he was following Ladybug instead of running alongside her, and let his eyes run over her to make certain that she wasn't hurt. From the slightly irritated look Ladybug threw over her shoulder a second later, he clearly hadn't been subtle enough about his looking and she had interpreted his look as ogling- which it wasn't, not at all, he definitely hadn't at all enjoyed the view while he made certain that the Elephant hadn't gotten a hit in while he was MIA, but whether or not Ladybug would believe him was a whole different story.

With both of them fighting, it didn't take long for them to send the Elephant crashing to the ground. The akuma got purified, the white butterfly fluttered away, and the normal wave of red and pink sparkles flashed around the city, putting everything back to normal. Ladybug waved a cheerful good-bye and took off, leaving Chat Noir to race home and sneak in his window before detransforming.

Adrien reached out and caught Plagg by the tail before he could race off and pounce on the cheese waiting in Adrien's bag. The kwami only struggled for a few seconds before slumping in defeat and turning back to face Adrien.

"Explain."

"What am I explaining?" the kwami asked, frustratingly close-mouthed as he floated in front of Adrien's face. "Elaborate, please?"

Adrien let out a frustrated breath. Maybe he should have taken the time to hear Plagg's explanation during the akuma battle, since at least then he had seemed willing enough to talk. Now, though, with the danger removed, Plagg's contrite attitude had all but vanished.

"How did you end up with Ladybug?" Adrien asked first, since that was most important.

Plagg made a move that might have been a shrug. "I was with her when the akuma attacked. We figured that you would probably show up near the attack once you realized that I was missing, so I followed her." Plagg's eyes slid away from Adrien and towards his bag. "She gave me cheese, so I decided to help her fight while we waited for you. Can I eat now?"

"Why were you with Ladybug before the akuma attacked- YOU WERE WITH LADYBUG BEFORE THE AKUMA ATTACKED?" Adrien practically shrieked once he figured out what he was saying. "You were with Ladybug? Before she transformed?"

Plagg blinked twice before his expression turned to one of whoops, shouldn't've said that.

"What's she like?" Adrien wanted to know. His words were tripping over themselves as they came out, garbled by Adrien's excitement. In his excitement, he completely forgot that he was meant to be scolding his kwami. "Is she nice? What does she look like? What was she wearing? Did you get see her room? I bet it's cute. What kinds of things is she interested in? Come on, Plagg, tell me something."

Plagg groaned and tried to fly away. Adrien's grip on Plagg's tail, which had momentarily loosened in his excitement, tightened again.

"I was more interested in the cheese," Plagg hedged when it became clear that Adrien wasn't going to give up that easily. It was true, after all; he had had eyes only for the cheese and even if he wasn't being difficult, he really couldn't tell Adrien what Marinette's- er, Ladybug's- room looked like, or what she was wearing, or what was in her room besides that lovely basket of soft, fluffy yarn. Besides, Adrien knew Marinette. He knew what she wore and he even knew what her room looked like, so it really wasn't like he was holding out any information.

Adrien had eyes. He could see what Ladybug's civilian self wore and how she acted, even if he didn't actually know it was Ladybug that he was looking at.

Still, this was an excellent opportunity to tease Adrien. His Chosen was begging him for information, completely at his mercy, and he could say anything.

So Plagg let out a long sigh, pressing one paw to his lips as though deep in thought about what to tell Adrien. He fought to keep the impish grin from his face as he answered.

"Weeeell, I don't remember a whole lot, since I was more focused on the cheese, but I did happen to notice..."

Adrien leaned forward, eyes completely intent on Plagg.

"...that Ladybug is a girl."

A/N: As with most of my stories, this is a one-shot and is therefore complete.

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